Our prison officers suffering

I am trying my hardest to understand this Government and the way in which it spends the nation’s moni­es with no proper management and oversight.

Last week, I sat watching TV6 News and heard the Minister of Justice stating “they” are in talks with the owner of the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre to purchase said property.

Now that would have been all well and good if it was back in 2010 when they made the decision to lease the property from the owner at a whopping cost of (according to the minister) about $820,000 monthly.

While these lucrative deals are being made, prison officers have to work long hours in the most hazar­dous of conditions, maintaining their professionalism and non-partiality over inmates.

They are being denied overtime, for which they have worked and are entitled to, but are being given time off instead. This has resulted in short-staffing and increased danger—all because the executive of the Prison Service and Government choose to not grant the necessary allocations to the officers.

That is wrong and unfair to the officers who place their lives and their families’ lives in danger on a daily basis. It’s an added insult to them that they must suffer to make ends meet while a few people profit lavishly.

One wonders if the facility at Santa Rosa is even worth the hefty price tag being considered and if it was evaluated properly, or if it’s just some figure that is thrown out there to benefit the friends and families of this administration.

Officers should be properly compensated for the servi­ce they provide to this country and should not continue to be blatantly sidelined, short-changed and insulted by these types of deals.